


this is what happens when two worlds collide

by mysilenceknot



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Secret Identity, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 13:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11624145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysilenceknot/pseuds/mysilenceknot
Summary: When Kara moves to Central City, she and Iris quickly become close friends. Very close friends.





	this is what happens when two worlds collide

**Author's Note:**

> This is officially the longest fic I've ever written, like dang. Iris/Kara is a beautiful ship and I am constantly desperate for content.  
> Warnings for discussion of emotional and physical abuse between Mon-El and Kara. There are references to various other ships in the fic but it's mostly background. Title comes from [Two World Collide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP1uQqcDMR8) by Demi Lovato.

Over the course of her time at Central Picture News, Iris had become the unofficial greeter for new staff members. Initially she’d thought it’d been a coincidence that whenever Scott brought a new person around he’d pass by her desk after he and the new hire left his office. It didn’t take long for her to realize that Scott’s game plan was to give new people a comfortable welcome before they inevitably found themselves swept up in the low-level chaos of the work place.

However, sometimes her work with The Flash resulted in her coming into her other job late, and one morning she entered to see Scott standing with a new hire at the coffee nook.

“Hey,” she called out as she placed her bag onto her desk. “Sorry I’m late, I was working on getting info about last night’s meta attack.”

Scott and the woman turned towards her. “In other words, the same old excuse you give me every time you’re late,” Scott said, the slightest hint of amusement in his voice.

“I’m getting great results, aren’t I?” she replied before turning to the woman who was giving her a wide-eyed stare. Iris gave her a bright smile and reached out one hand. “Hi, you must be the new hire. I’m –”

“You’re Iris West,” the woman interrupted. She immediately clapped her hands over her mouth.

Iris gave her a slightly wary look, raising her eyebrow and glancing at Scott before asking, “you’ve heard of me?”

“Sorry,” and the woman took Iris’s hand as she began rambling, “I’m friends with James Olsen and he mentioned working with you, but I’d also read a few of your pieces when I worked for CatCo because Cat Grant had considered trying to steal you – oh wait, I probably wasn’t supposed to mention that ever.”

Scott laughed, clapping Kara on the shoulder. “I knew you two would manage to get along. If you have any questions feel free to ask me but I’m sure Iris can show you the ropes.”

Iris was too busy staring at Kara to respond to her boss, a combination of amusement and flattery running through her as she took in the flustered woman. She was adorable, really. Kara nervously pushed her glasses up before giving Iris another apologetic smile. “I’m sorry if that freaked you out.”

“No, you’re fine,” Iris said. “And wow, small world. I’ve been meaning to catch up with James for months but things got so busy that it completely left my mind. He did mention an up and coming reporter that he was closing to. I assume that’s you?”

Kara started blushing. “He was probably exaggerating.”

“You got a job here though.”

“I’m lucky, I guess.” Iris watched Kara’s gaze move past her, as if there was something she wanted to say but wasn’t able to share. In seconds it was gone, Kara blinking and making eye contact once more. “Scott showed me around so I’m gonna head to my desk, but I’d love to talk to you more.”

“Of course! There’s a lead I’m chasing so I’m actually dip out again in a little while, but we can shoot for lunch tomorrow.”

Kara grinned. “That sounds perfect, I can’t wait.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Kara called James later that evening, the first thing she said was “why didn’t you tell me that Iris was hot?!”

James’s delighted laughter echoed from the speakers through her new apartment.

 

* * *

 

Even someone who wasn’t as perceptive as Iris was could have realized that things were slightly off when Iris introduced Barry to Kara.

They gave each other bright smiles, smiles that were a little too familiar considering that neither of them had mentioned the other one. Specifically, both of them had shown interest in meeting each other as if they were total strangers.

When Iris had brought Barry to Jitters where Kara was working on a story, she had been super excited to introduce Barry to Kara, a person who’d quickly become one of her closest friends. She’d talked a lot about Kara to Barry, and vice versa, so when Barry finally pointed out that he hadn’t met this mystery girl who had suddenly started taking up most of Iris’s time in the last two months, Iris finally made an effort to introduce them to each other. When Barry and Kara shook hands and said “nice to meet you” to each other, it took everything in Iris’s powers to not ask them what exactly was going on.

“Iris has told me a lot about you, Kara. What brought you to Central City? Was it just your job?”

“It was mainly the job offer! But,” and Kara turned to meet Iris’s gaze, “being here has made me feel more comfortable and safe than I have in a long time.” Iris felt Barry turn to look at her, but she couldn’t bear to turn away from Kara. Kara was looking at her very intensely, as if Iris had made moving to Central City worthwhile. As if Iris had fixed whatever issues Iris could tell Kara was trying to hide.

“You’ve made this place better as well,” Iris managed to force out. There was so much more that she wanted to say but, alas, Barry was here and she already knew he had picked up on her feelings and _maybe this was a mistake_. But then Kara’s small smile widened and her hand twitched where it rested on her coffee cup. The moment broke when she quickly took a large drink of her coffee. Iris felt warm.

“Anyways,” Kara continued. “Iris has told me a lot about you. You’re a forensic scientist, right?”

“Right!” And with that the conversation shifted into more of the territory Iris had expected when she brought these nerds together.

 

* * *

 

Central City was a nice place to live. It’d been about four months she’d moved from National City and Kara felt more alive and free every single day. She couldn’t remember being so happy since the way she’d felt when she first become Supergirl.

Speaking of Supergirl…

“I think I’m ready to come back,” Kara said. She was facetiming Alex when she’d blurted out what she’d been pondering for a few weeks. Alex looked surprised but didn’t say anything. Which is not the reaction Kara had been hoping for.

She’d put down the mantle of Supergirl when everything in her life had finally hit rock bottom. It was hard enough to be a superhero without dealing with trying to get out of an abusive relationship. It was impossible to be a superhero when ending said relationship ended in physical violence.

It’d been a year since then. Actually, it had more than a year. But it was exactly a year since Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian had helped push Mon-El outside of the planet for good. A year since she’d felt like she was finally out of his grip. A year since she stared into the atmosphere and hoped that he’d burned in the exit back into space.

“I feel safe here,” she tried to explain. “I feel safe and it hasn’t stopped being my calling.”

“I know. I know, honey. I know you’ve missed it. But are you sure you’re ready?”

Kara thought about the last four months and the community she’d built in Central City. She thought about having the Flash as her ally no matter what else happened. She thought about much she fit in with the Central City Picture News staff than she’d ever fit in at CatCo. She thought about Iris West. Talented, kind, gorgeous Iris West. A woman who made her laugh harder than she thought she’d be able to ever again. A woman who reminded her of all of the good things about home without bringing up the things that had pushed Kara away. A woman who was eagerly spending most of her time with her.

A woman she wanted to be able to keep safe. A woman she wanted to make proud.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m sure.”

“Okay.” Alex gave her a smile. “Okay. Please be safe?”

Kara’s eyes began to well up tears of happiness and gratitude. “I will,” she promised.

 

* * *

 

 

Iris did pay attention to the superhero happenings outside of where she lived. There was a team in Detroit that she mostly kept an eye on because Cisco’s girlfriend was involved. There was a team based out of Atlantis who’d occasionally surface up to team up with the Justice League. There was the Justice League, of course, who Barry would leave to help whenever a major crisis arose. There was Batman in Gotham, there was Superman in Metropolis, there was the Green Lantern in Coast City.

And there was Supergirl in National City.

When she’d rose to attention two years earlier, Iris had been intrigued but was way too preoccupied with metahuman incidents to try to look into Supergirl in as much depth as she wanted. When it came to public awareness that this woman was Superman’s cousin, it put to rest a large part of the mystery and Iris didn’t spend much time thinking about it.

But one day Supergirl disappeared. Fully disappeared. Superman started making more visits to National City and there was protection from Guardian, but Supergirl was nowhere to be found.

She eventually resurfaced a year later. In Central City.

“What do you know about Supergirl?” Iris asked one evening. She and Barry were hanging out just like old times. Partially because they tried to spend time with just the two of them at least twice a month, but partially because his boyfriend had gotten pulled into fighting alongside the Justice League Detroit as he’d been visiting Cynthia.

“I’m not giving you her secret identity,” Barry said immediately. Iris rolled her eyes.

“You haven’t told me who Batman is yet, you really think I’d try to get any other identities out of you?”

Barry hummed. “Fine, what do you want to know?”

Iris had a million questions. Why did Supergirl disappear? Why did she leave National City and what brought her to Central City? She finally settled on, “is she really Superman’s older cousin? If so, why does she look so much younger than him?”

Barry gave her an amused smile. “Really? Of all the things you could have asked me, you ask me the one thing I haven’t asked Supergirl herself?” Iris frowned. “I will give you this,” he decided. “She’s not that old in comparison to a lot of heroes. I think she might be as old as we are? And she’s super cute.”

“Why… why was that a detail wanted to add?” Iris gasped. “Have you been secretly sleeping with yet _another_ superhero?”

“Stop that. I told you because I knew you wanted to know.” Barry laughed. “You literally asked me how hot Batman was under his mask.”

Iris felt herself flush a little. Damn her predictability.

 

* * *

 

Six months into their friendship, Kara let herself break down in front of Iris.

It was an accident. She very rarely let people cry. And when things got as bad as they were she usually took the day off to fly back home. But she’d had a major deadline and Alex was off with the DEO and even though James and Clark had promised she could come to them whenever she needed to, she really didn’t want to bother them on one of the few weekends they were able to spend together.

But it was a bad day and Iris had gone into the kitchen to grab some popcorn. The next thing Kara knew, she was crying.

“So I’m out of the seasoning you like but I do have Parmesan cheese–” Iris stopped in her tracks when Kara looked up at her. “Oh my god, are you okay?” She put everything she was holding on the kitchen table and almost ran to where Kara was slowly beginning to panic on the couch.

“It’s a bad day, I’m sorry.” That was all Kara managed to say before her silent tears turned into sobs that wracked her body. Iris climbed onto the couch next to her and opened her arms. Kara leaned into Iris’s hold as she cried and cried and cried.

When Kara came back to herself, Iris was humming gently and rubbing her hand on Kara’s back. Kara blinked, shifted, then sat up. She met Iris’s pretty but worried eyes and felt like she was going to cry again.

“Are you feeling any better?” Iris asked. Kara nodded. She watched indecision flash in Iris’s expression for a second before Iris spoke again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Kara let out a deep breath. “Not really,” she admitted, “but you just held me as I broke down so I figured I owe you an explanation.” She didn’t give Iris to argue to the contrary and immediately dove into her story.

She told Iris everything. Or as much as she could without revealing that she was Supergirl. How she’d met Mon-El (with a few adjustments), how they’d had a kind of love/hate relationship for a while until he admitted his feelings for her, how she’d fallen for how sweet he could be. How possessive he was over the relationship, how they’d sometimes fight but the fights would result in him degrading her and her feeling the need to apologize. How after the fights and after his apologies he’d insist that she was too good for him and berate himself for not being the best boyfriend in the world.

How it took months before she listened to the people who’d expressed their concern for her.

How he’d hurt her badly after they broke up.

It felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders as she spoke. Iris looked sympathetic the further and further the story went, eventually reaching forward and clasping Kara’s hand. Tears had sprung back up as Kara got to the darker, more uncomfortable part of her story, but she pushed through them until she was finally done.

“Is that why you moved here?” Iris finally asked. “Why you left CatCo?”

“I mean, I would have left CatCo eventually. But. Yes.” Kara sighed. “I couldn’t stay there any longer, even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to bother me anymore. It was like his ghost was all around, you know?”

Iris nodded and bit her lip. “I can kind of get that.”

“I’m sorry, I know that was a lot to take in.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Iris squeezed their hands together for a second. “Thank you for feeling comfortable enough to tell me.”

Kara nodded and then leaned back on the couch. She leaned over so her head was resting on Iris’s shoulder, and she couldn’t help but be full of longing when Iris’s fingers stroked through her hair.

 

* * *

 

Iris was still single, technically. Sure, she spent most of her time with Kara. And when she wasn’t with Kara, she was spending a ridiculous amount of time thinking about Kara. It really didn’t seem like Kara was spending much time with anyone else either, to the amusement of the rest of Team Flash.

“Dude, just ask her out,” Cisco had said one evening while he was technically supposed to be communicating with Barry over the coms. Iris ignored him, watching her best friend zip through the city on the screen in search of lava bombs around the city. “I’m serious. You like her, she seems to really like you. What’s the harm in that?”

“You do realize that I’m part of a superhero team, right?” Iris looked up from the screen and gestured around them. Wally was out looking for the meta responsible for the lava, but Caitlin, Wells, and Hartley were all in the room figuring out ways to solve this particular problem.

“So?”

“So, dating is a little more complicated when you have a huge other life.”

“Uh, guys?” Barry’s voiced crackled over the intercom. “This is a great and important conversation you two are having but I think I’ve got all of the bombs and I need to know if the pond we talked about was a safe place to put them.”

Iris gave Cisco a pointed glare before responding, “yes, I did research on the area and there’s no non-microscopic life that will be impacted by them.”

“But please drop them in slowly,” Cisco said. “We don’t need another explosion. I think Iris would find it hard to explain to her crush why she was awake all night in the event of you getting knocked the fuck out again.”

Iris punched Cisco in the arm. Hard.

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked how she figured out that ace reporter Iris West ran a dessert blog, Kara would lie. Point blank.

The truth was there was a night back in National City where she and Alex were fighting, James was off spending another weekend with her cousin, and Winn was completely slammed and couldn’t hang out with her. So yeah, she googled “cute dessert blogs” because she was sad and alone and had nothing better to do with her evening. It wasn’t until she was on the fifth blog of the night that she was directed to ‘Chocolate by the Box’ because of a collaboration with a cake designer.

It was love at first sight.

The site was simple, not too many bright colors or frills but still very carefully designed. Two hours later, Kara had read every single post on the site and watched all of Ann’s how-to videos. She subscribed and with every update she fell more and more in love.

Kara had figured that she’d never meet Ann. Unlike many other online creators, Ann never showed her face in her videos. She didn’t even speak – her videos were captioned and overlaid with soft music. There were no intentions to have meet and greets, her facebook page was a shocking combination of intimacy and distance, no one on any forum or comment section seemed to have any idea who Ann might be.

Which was fine, as many online content creators had great reasons to stay as anonymous as possible, but Kara really wanted to talk to Ann. If only to thank her for being a fun light on those nights where Kara struggled with who she was and what she needed to do.

And to rave about the recipe that used mini Reeses’s cups.

But then, there was a company potluck. And Iris brought brownies, brownies which Iris claimed were a family recipe that she’d gotten from her great aunt.  Which was the exact story on ‘Chocolate by the Box’ of a batch brownies that Kara had baked with Clark one weekend. Brownies that tasted exactly like the ones Kara was eating.

They were Kara’s favorite of all the brownies she’d attempted to bake.

Kara didn’t know what to do, really. Should she let Iris know that she knew? Should she talk to Barry about it? What would she even say to Barry about it – “hey so you know that blog Iris runs? Turns out I’ve been following it for years and I’m obsessed with it”? It was a few seconds of a mixture of panic and excitement that she had to let run through her system without Iris noticing. Even if she wanted to bring it up with Iris, a company event was probably not the right place to do it.

“So, do you like them?” Iris asked with a grin. Iris had gone to talk to Linda Park for a few minutes while Kara went through a mini personal crisis. Kara forced herself to give a normal smile.

“They’re absolutely perfect.”

 

* * *

 

If anyone asked how she figured out that Kara Danvers was actually the alien hero Supergirl, she’d easily admit that Supergirl saved her.

It’d been a huge mistake for Iris to go into that abandoned shack alone. First, Iris wasn’t actually 100% sure the shack was completely abandoned. All she knew through the information she got out of Cisco is there hadn’t been noticeable human activity for a while. Second, she’d gotten offers from Barry, Wally, _and_ Cisco to give her backup, but she’d been fully convinced all she had to do was walk around and take some pictures as added evidence to the story she was frantically trying to finish. Third, Iris hadn’t expected the shack to be booby trapped.

When Iris stepped into the shack she was extremely cautious. There had been too many deaths in the area that all seemed to lead back to this mysterious building for her to be anything than fully alert. Iris got the pictures she needed in record time, but as she turned to leave, she bumped against one of the pillars. The next thing she knew is there was an explosion in front of her and fire quickly spreading around her.

Iris ran backwards, trying to pull out her phone to hit her emergency button. But as she walked she hit a crate and her phone went flying.

Iris hadn’t been so afraid for her life in a very long time.

There was a crash above her and Iris looked up, watching the ceiling fall open, knowing she was in her final moments. But then – she was being lifted up. Supergirl had grabbed her and wrapped her cape around them. Then were flying, flying away from the fire and the smoke and the danger, Supergirl holding onto Iris tightly as Iris coughed.

“You’re okay,” Supergirl’s voice echoed. “I’ve got you, you’re okay.” Iris held onto the other woman tightly.

Supergirl landed a block away from Central City General and lowered Iris gently to her feet. Iris was still feeling dizzy, the combination of smoke and chemicals impacting her mind and lungs. “I wanted to check if you were okay enough to go home without seeing a doctor but that cough doesn’t sound good.”

Reflexively, Iris responded “I’m fine.” She then started coughing again and heard Supergirl sigh.

“Come on.” Iris felt her hand being grabbed and she followed as Supergirl walked her to the ER entrance. Up until this moment, Iris hadn’t even thought about confirming her suspicions about Supergirl. Any curious thoughts had been pushed away by how afraid she had been for her life. But now they were at the hospital and Supergirl had let go of her hand.

She turned to Iris. The only reason Iris managed to hide her shock at seeing Kara’s face so clearly was the fact that her body immediately started shaking with the force of a new bout of coughing.

“Hey,” Kara said. “Please let them check you out.”

“What, you’re not going to force me to get medical assistance?” Iris tried to joke, still reeling.

“I have a feeling that wouldn’t work well on you.” Kara paused, mouth gaping as she seemed to realize her mistake. “Anyways,” she said as she lifted off to float above Iris, “there are people who want you to be okay. Do it for them?”

Iris looked up at Kara and nodded her head. “Okay,” she said. “And thank you for saving me.”

Kara gave her a wide smile before giving a bow, laughing as she brought her body back to a normal posture. “I’d do it any day. It’s my job, after all.”

She wanted to say something, she really did, but then she started coughing again. To avoid scaring Kara any more than she already had, Iris finally turned and walked into the hospital.

 

* * *

 

“Are you going to ask her out?”

Kara was in Metropolis spending a day with her favorite cousin. In this moment he was now her least favorite cousin. She glared at him as they walked to meet James for lunch. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Clark laughed, his voice bright and loud. “Sure you don’t.”

“Listen,” Kara began, trying to keep herself from smacking him. Spending time with Clark was often what she imagined spending time with a younger sibling would be. At least, if the younger sibling was actually smaller and hadn’t aged to be older than her.

“It’s okay! You don’t have to talk about it! I get that!” Clark rose his hands in surrender. “I’m just saying, it’s pretty obvious.”

Kara sighed and opened the door to the restaurant. “It’s really hard to date when you have a double life, you know?”

“But doesn’t she have a double life too?” Kara paused at Clark’s words. “And of all the people who could have a double life that we’ve met, isn’t her second life the most compatible with yours?”

He had a point but… “I’m not ready to tell her.”

“Tell who what?” James asked. They’d reached the table and sat down, Clark giving James a quick peck on the cheek before sitting next to him.

“Kara’s got a crush on Iris West,” Clark said playfully.

“No offense but I think Iris West might be the _only_ person who doesn’t know that.”

Kara rested her head on the table. It was going to be a long afternoon.

 

* * *

 

 

The anniversary of Eddie’s death got less and less painful the further Iris was from it. That didn’t make it easy. As usually she’d called out of work in advance. She let herself sleep in for the day, only waking up when Wally called to check in on her.

“Dad’s worried,” he said. “Do you want to do dinner tonight? I can invite Barry too if you'd like.”

Iris really didn’t want to do anything, but she knew being at home wasn’t the best move. “Okay,” she agreed. When she got off the phone she went straight back to bed.

It was hard. It was hard to know that Eddie had sacrificed himself for her. It was hard to know that without what he did it was likely she and the people in her life wouldn’t be alive. It was also hard to know that she wouldn’t get the life she’d dreamed of having with him.

After moping in bed an hour past waking up, Iris forced herself to get up. She needed to shower, then pick up a bouquet of flowers, then drive to the cemetery. As she was climbing back into her car after leaving the flower shop close to where Eddie’s empty casket lay, she heard a voice call out behind her.

“Iris!”

Iris turned around to see Kara quickly walk to her. “Hey,” she said, struggling to give Kara a smile. On any other day she’d be genuinely happy to see Kara. But today she really didn’t want to interact with anyone at all. She wanted to fake her happiness even less.

“I missed you at work! Are you meeting up with someone?” Kara gestured at the flowers and Iris’s face crumbled.

“I’m visiting my fiance’s grave.”

Kara took a step back. Her hand dropped. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Iris said. That’s what she always said.

“It’s clearly not,” Kara responded. “I’m sorry for your loss, I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through.”

She was being so sweet, so considerate, and Iris was about to burst into tears in public. She had to leave. Iris ducked her head down a bit and turned to her car. “Yeah,” she said, opening the passenger side and laying the flowers on the seat. “It’s hard but it’s been a few years so I’m just trying my best.” Iris closed the door, knowing that she had to turn around and face Kara, not wanting to see the sympathy that people always gave her whenever she had to bring up Eddie.

“Hey,” Kara said as Iris turned. “Do you need me to distract you after your visit?”

“No, it’s okay. I’m doing dinner with my family and Barry after but. Thank you.” She tried to give Kara a smile but as it fell flat, Kara stepped forward and gave her a hug. Iris closed her eyes and hugged back. They stood together for almost a minute before Kara let her go.

“Okay,” Kara said. “Text me if you want any company tonight. Otherwise I’ll see you at work tomorrow?”

Iris nodded her head. “I’ll be there.” She walked around her car and opened the driver’s door. Looking above the car’s roof she made eye contact with Kara once more. “Thank you,” she repeated. Kara gave her another smile and Iris climbed in the car to drive to the cemetery.

 

* * *

 

“I know who you are,” Kara said, digging into her sundae. They’d crashed at Kara’s place after work and were watching a soap opera while eating. Iris’s heart began racing, even though she knew she didn’t have anything to be afraid of or ashamed about.

“What do you mean by that?” Iris said, putting her own dessert bowl on her lap and refusing to look away from the tv. She felt Kara shift next to her on the couch so that Kara’s back was resting on one of the arms and she was sitting with her legs crossed on the cushion.

“I mean, I’ve been following your blog since you started it a few years ago, but I didn’t make the connection between your journalist writing and your more personal writing.”

“My blog?” Iris finally turned her head to stare at Kara, who was giving her a triumphant smile. “You mean my Flash blog? That’s not really a secret, I have my name all over it.”

“No, not that one. Your brownie one.” Kara licked her spoon clean before pointing it at Iris. “I had my suspicions but then we had that potluck and you baked my favorite of all of your recipes. I double checked by reading a lot of posts again a few weeks ago and it fully clicked.”

“Oh my god,” Iris laughed, “you had me scared for a second. Also oh my god, I can’t believe you’ve read that.” She rearranged herself on the couch so they were fully facing each other, feet not touching the ground. Iris lifted her bowl again, scooping up a bite containing both the fudgy brownie and the creamy ice cream. “This is so weird, no one even knows about that blog except for a group of my close friends.”

Kara nudged one of her feet with her own. “This is so weird for me too, you’re the only food blogger I’ve ever followed. I can’t believe I’m friends with an internet celebrity.”

Iris rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, I’m not an internet celebrity.”

“Half a million people follow that blog.”

“See? Not even close to internet celebrity. You have to hit a full million to be a celebrity foodie,” she replied seriously.

“Shut up.” Kara gave her a huge grin. “This is the closest to royalty I’ve ever been.”

Iris’s smile faltered. She didn’t know how to respond to something she knew was a blatant lie. It’d been weeks since she’d figured out Kara’s secret identity, but she’d hoped that Kara would confide in her one day about her superhero life. And they’d gotten so close that she’d thought it would be soon, but then again, it felt like every time someone in her life got powers they tried to hide it from her as long as they could.

With Barry she’d been justified in confronting him. He’d spent almost an entire year lying to her face about his powers, the exact thing she’d spent time and energy researching. This was different. This was a woman she was falling for who had a complex past and could be in serious danger if the wrong person figured out what was going on. Iris was already afraid of screwing up the beautiful friendship they’d developed and there was a strong possibility that Kara would throw all her walls back up if she felt exposed.

“Iris?” Kara asked. Iris tried to lift her smile back up.

“Sorry, I was trying to figure out if I should buy a crown to wear around you.”

“No, you weren’t.”

Iris paused. “No, I wasn’t.” They sat in silence for a few moments. Kara put her bowl on the coffee table and squeezed right above Iris’s knee gently.

“Hey,” she said. “If there’s something you want to say, I’m here to listen.”

Iris took a deep breath. Her bowl joined Kara’s on the table. She closed her eyes briefly to steady herself before looking Kara straight on.

“I know who you are.”

It was Kara’s turn to look nervous. “What do you mean by that?” she laughed.

“Kara.” Iris grabbed her hand. “Kara, I _know_.”

Kara’s eyes closed, but her hands didn’t move away.

“How?”

Iris bit back a laugh. “I’m an investigative reporter. And even though you wear those glasses and do your hair completely differently, and even though you change the echo and pitch of your voice when you’re speaking as Supergirl, you have that same smile.”

Kara moved to pull her hand away and Iris held it tighter. “Kara, it’s okay. You can trust me.”

Kara’s eyes opened and Iris could see the shininess of her eyes, as if she was on the verge of tears. “I’m know,” she said. “And that’s why I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Iris rushed to reassure her that was okay, that she hadn’t done anything wrong, but Kara kept her from speaking.  “I know that Barry’s The Flash and I know that you work with him. I know about Cisco and Caitlin and Wally and everything that’s happening at Star Labs.” The tears broke over. “I knew that I could trust you with a huge secret but I was so scared that me being an alien would be more than you could handle.”

“Kara, you saved me. You saved my life.” Iris reached out with her other hand and gently brushed away a tear. “How could you ever scare me away?”

For a second she thought that she’d said and done the wrong thing because Kara started actually crying. Iris began pulling her hand away to apologize, but Kara pulled it back, closing her eyes as she leaned into Iris’s touch. They sat together for a several minutes in silence, neither of them speaking another word as Kara let herself cry. It didn’t take long for Kara to calm down but she didn’t let go of Iris’s hand. Iris felt her heart racing. She wasn’t even exactly sure why she’d felt like touching Kara in such an intimate way would be the right move and yet, here they were, sitting on a couch with all their secrets open and still in contact.

Eventually Iris did pull her hand away, placing it on her knee as Kara wiped the rest of her tears away. “Are we okay?” she asked.

Kara let out a deep breath. “Yes. Yes, we’re okay.” Her eyes glittered. “I think we could be more than okay, actually.”

Before Iris could come up with a response Kara leaned forward and kissed her softly. Iris kissed back, bringing her hand back up to where it had rested before. When they pulled away, Iris couldn’t help but laugh a little before surging forward to kiss Kara harder. Kara let the motion push her so her head was on the arm rest and Iris was leaning over her.

They broke away a second time, taking deep breaths as they stared at each other in wonder.

“Wow,” Iris said.

“I know, right?” Kara sat back up and Iris leaned into her space, letting their foreheads touch. “I kind of want to fly with you right now.” Iris’s eyes widened as Kara gave her a huge grin. “Would you be up for that?”

Iris moved so they were kissing again, hands moving as their mouths pressed and opened against each other. When Kara pulled back, they were holding hands.

“Should I take that as a yes?”

“Absolutely, yes.”

“Okay then!” Kara said, pulling Iris by the hand until they made it to the balcony. All Iris could think about was how beautiful she was. How beautiful and strong and sweet. Kara turned so she could wrap her arms around Iris’s waist. In response, Iris pulled her arms up around Kara’s neck.

“You ready for this?” Kara asked.

Iris grinned. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

Kara laughed and in seconds the pair were in flight in the night sky.


End file.
